“A considerable majority of medical physicians would help children treat cancer with medical cannabis, a new study suggests. In a study published this week in the journal Pediatrics, researchers from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that 92 percent of all providers would give child cancer patients access to medical marijuana. However, researchers found more support from medical providers from states without any current medical marijuana laws. Only 85 percent of providers certified to recommend medical cannabis would allow treatment for children, compared to 95 percent of their peers in prohibitionist states.” (12/13/17)

“Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won martial law powers across the southern third of the country for one more year on Wednesday to combat Islamic militants and leftist rebels, as Congress brushed aside fears of a looming dictatorship. Duterte’s request to extend martial law in the Mindanao region until December 31 next year and detain rebellion suspects there without charge was approved by 240 votes to 27 at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. Asked by reporters later on Wednesday if he would extend martial law to the whole country, Duterte said ‘all options are on the table.'” (12/13/17)

“Among the many odd elements of President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. Embassy in Israel will move to Jerusalem is that it comes precipitously in advance of Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to region. The purpose of the trip was to show solidarity with the plight of Christians in the Middle East, yet Christian leaders — including the Coptic Pope — are refusing to meet with Pence. What those leaders understand, which the Trump administration seems not to, is that Christians in the Middle East have lived and will continue to live in societies where Muslim majorities determine political and social outcomes, and those outcomes become less tolerant when religious minorities are perceived to be the exclusive beneficiaries of U.S. policy.” (12/13/17)

“TVN24, a Polish TV news channel owned by U.S. media giant Scripps Network Interactive, has been fined more than $400,000 by Poland’s media regulator over allegedly biased coverage of anti-government protests. Footage shot by TVN24 ‘failed to inform viewers that the [2016] December 16-18 protests held outside parliament were unlawful,’ Teresa Brykczynska, a spokeswoman for regulator KRRiT, said, and in so doing effectively urged ‘viewers to participate in illegal protests.’ TVN24, which is part of Polish TV group TVN that Scripps acquired in 2015 for $615 million in the largest ever U.S. media deal in Poland, is appealing the fine of 1.5 million zlotys ($414,000) imposed for a news report shot when a group of liberal opposition legislators occupied the Polish parliament last December in a protest by the ruling rightwing Law and Justice Party to ban journalists from covering proceedings there [sic].” (12/13/17)

“Many hurdles remain in place for innovation in the sphere of telemedicine. Shirley Svorny offers her thoughts in a new Cato paper, ‘Liberating Telemedicine: Options to Eliminate the State-Licensing Roadblock.'” [various formats] (12/12/17)

“As I write, Democratic candidate Doug Jones has just taken the stage to declare himself the winner of the Alabama Senate race, the one in which Roy Moore became more infamous than famous, and better known for the worst kind of reasons. The final counts are not in, and I suppose there could be a turnaround at the last moment, but it doesn’t look like it. It looks like Republicans lost the seat. Hillary Clinton is already crowing that this is a sign of more Democratic victories to come. Maybe. Too soon to tell. Meanwhile, what to make of it all?” (12/13/17)

“[A Macomb County, Michigan sheriff’s] deputy pulled over a Chevy Cobalt in what police said is an area known for drugs. The deputy said he immediately smelled marijuana. Police said that’s when 22-year-old Jonathan Hadley got out of the car and began walking away. The deputy ordered him to stop several times, but Hadley did not. When the deputy caught him, Hadley began fighting and resisting. Then the driver, 19-year-old Yahaira Elisea-Moreno, ran up and began attacking the deputy. Then, 20-year-old Jordan Herrod came from outside of a house, shoved the deputy into a shrub, then got on top of him and began beating him. … [The sheriff] said if [the victims] would have just cooperated none of this would have happened.” (12/13/17)

“In April 2002, about a year before the invasion of Iraq, then-president George W. Bush told a group of assembled reporters that Saddam Hussein had to go. When asked how he would accomplish this, Bush replied cryptically, ‘Just wait and see.’ I was reminded of this quote when President Trump was asked about North Korea’s test launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, reportedly able to strike anywhere in the United States. Trump’s response was simply, ‘We’ll handle it.’ Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about ‘fire and fury’ and ‘totally destroying’ North Korea have garnered much of the headlines. But perhaps because his grandest pronouncements — ‘build the wall,’ ‘repeal and replace,’ ‘lock her up’ — have all proven hollow, his subtler comments hinting toward war, such as when he termed a meeting of top generals in October as ‘the calm before the storm,’ seem far more alarming.” (12/13/17)

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